Widening access criteria

You need to meet certain criteria to be eligible for a Flag or Plus Flag.

Depending on your circumstances, you may need to meet criteria relevant to more than one of the factors we look at to be eligible for a widening access offer.  

We assess your eligibility for widening access offers using the following factors:   

  • where you live (your home postcode)
  • the school or college you go to
  • if you are care experienced, or a refugee or asylum seeker
  • if you’ve completed a Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP), our Access Programme, or a recognised bridging programme 

Check which bridging programmes we recognise  

Our widening access offer policy only covers entry to our undergraduate degree programmes. It does not extend to graduate applicants to undergraduate degree programmes (for example, graduate entry to MBChB Medicine, BVM&S Veterinary Medicine Graduate Entry Programme, or LLB Law Graduate Entry). 

We use data from outside sources to assess if your postcode makes you eligible for a widening access offer. This data comes from three indices which measure socio-economic disadvantage and levels of participation in higher education across the UK:   

  • Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) (measures various types of disadvantage across different aspects of people's lives in Scotland)
  • Acorn (describes the demographic make-up of UK postcodes/local areas)
  • POLAR4 (measures participation of young people in higher education in different local areas in the UK) 

Find out more about SIMD 

Find out more about Acorn 

Find our more about POLAR4   

Acorn and POLAR data are updated in our systems each year in May, based on information provided to the University by Acorn and the Office for Students. It cannot be revised after this date, even if Acorn or the Office for Students make further changes, as the UCAS admissions cycle has already opened. Unfortunately, this means that information on the Acorn or Office for Students website may not match the data we are using. You should therefore only check your eligibility for a widening access offer using our checker tool. 

Check if you might be eligible for a widening access offer 


Plus Flag criteria

If you are assigned a Plus Flag, you will be made an offer at our minimum entry requirements in most cases.  

You are eligible for a Plus Flag if you're permanently resident in the UK and fulfil one or more of these criteria:   

  • you are care experienced
  • you are a refugee or an asylum seeker
  • your home postcode is within the lowest quintile of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ('SIMD20')
  • your home postcode is within the lowest quintile of the Acorn measure of socio-economic disadvantage (‘Acorn 6’) and you attend a state school in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
  • your home postcode is within the lowest quintile of the POLAR measure of socio-economic disadvantage (‘POLAR1’) and you attend a state school in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
  • you attend one of our identified Scottish ‘low progression’ schools (these are selected based on low progression to higher education, high proportion of free school meal entitlement and high proportion of SIMD20 postcodes and are reviewed periodically)
  • you attend a Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS) Group 1 or Group 1 Plus school
  • you are undertaking a Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) course
  • you are undertaking our Access Programme
  • you are either estranged from your family or a carer, and have completed one or more of our recognised bridging programmes 

Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS) schools 

Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) 

Information about our Access Programme 

Find out more about recognised bridging programmes 

Flag criteria

If you are assigned a Flag, you’ll be prioritised for a place in degree programmes where competition for places is high in most cases.    

You are eligible for a Flag if you are permanently resident in the UK and you fulfil one or more of the following criteria:  

  • your home postcode is within the second lowest quintile of the Acorn measure of socio-economic disadvantage ('Acorn 5') and you attend a state school in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland
  • your home postcode is within the lowest or second lowest quintile of the Acorn measure of socio-economic disadvantage ('Acorn 6' or 'Acorn 5') and you attend a school of low attainment at Higher within Scotland
  • your home postcode is within the second lowest quintile of the POLAR measure of socio-economic disadvantage ('POLAR2') and you attend a state school in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
  • your home postcode is within the second lowest quintile of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ('SIMD40') and you attend a school of low attainment at Higher within Scotland
  • your home postcode is within the second lowest quintile of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ('SIMD40') and you are eligible for support from LEAPS in a LEAPS Group 2 school
  • your home postcode is within the lowest or second lowest quintile of the Acorn measure of socio-economic disadvantage ('Acorn 6' or 'Acorn 5') and you are eligible for support from LEAPS in a LEAPS Group 2 school 

Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS) Group 2 schools 

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